DC United scored 3 unanswered goals in the first half and held on to the lead in a 3-1 win over the Quakes. Zoltán Stieber opened up the tally with a goal in the 15th minute, followed by goals by Darren Mattocks in the 20th, and Yamil Asad in the 37th. Luciano Acosta had 2 assists in the game, as did Paul Arriola. The only Quakes goal was off Danny Hoesen unassisted in the 43rd minute.

Both teams will be traveling to Los Angeles to meet their respective opponents next weekend. The Quakes will meet their longtime rival LA Galaxy at the Stubhub Center in Carson, CA in a Friday night tilt on May 25 at 8pm. DC United will continue their California swing/extended road trip with a match in the Los Angeles city limits playing LAFC at the new Banc of California Stadium on Saturday May 26 at 7pm. (Of note: the Quakes series against LAFC will be their next home game on June 9 at 7:15pm, and at Southern California on September 22 at 12:30pm.)

In a game that was marked by chippy play, yellow cards, and a red card to captain Zano Mahic of the visiting team East Bay FC Stompers, the new home team El Farolito broke the deadlock with a late goal from Gustavo Ruelas in the 84th minute to give them a 2-1 win. Faro opened up the scoring with a 55th minute goal from Luis Hernandez (no relation to the Mexican legend), while the Stompers responded with the equalizer from Gerardo Moya in the 72nd minute.

This game marked the return of the former San Francisco team which played many of their games at the venerable stadium before moving to the East Bay for the 2016 season. The return leg was a rematch of the opening night meeting on March 17 which saw Farolito come back to steal a point on the road over the host Stompers in a 1-1 draw. As of Saturday night, El Farolito holds first place with 18 points over CD Aguiluchos with 17.

Flickr set – photos include the instagram posts- Photos by Nap Badillo/Nap Ba.

In a rematch of the 2016 US Open Cup match at the Beach Chalet in San Francisco, the visitors of the PDL scored 4 unanswered goals to defeat the perennial NPSL contenders 4-0, this time at Raimondi Park in Oakland. SF City advances to meet Sacramento Republic of the USL

Flickr set – photos include the instagram posts. All photos by Nap Badillo. All rights reserved.

In US Open Cup play, San Francisco City advances to meet Sacramento Republic FC of the USL. In the PDL schedule they will continue their road trip to Southern California this weekend to meet the Southern California Seahorses Saturday May 12 and FC Golden State Force the following day. Aguiluchos also resumes NPSL league play with a road trip to newcomers FC Davis, also on Sunday May 13.

The next game we plan to cover is the US Open Cup tilt between PDL club SF City and NPSL team Aguiluchos in their rematch of the 2016 US Open Cup that was at the San Francisco Beach Chalet fields. In that meeting Aguiluchos advanced with a 1-0 win over City and there will be that measure of revenge for them as they seek to advance further. The winner of that match will face Sacramento Republic FC of the USL the following week. League bragging rights will be on the line.

Diego Valeri scored in the 88th minute off a free kick to give the Timbers a road win over the Quakes 1-0, and to steal the points on the road. The match was filled with pomp and ceremony as the San Jose Ultras unveiled a commemorative choreo while announcer and former player Chris Dangerfield was inducted in the Earthquakes Hall of Fame with his plaque unveiled on top of the Avaya Stadium press box.

The Quakes will travel on the road to play Minnesota United Saturday May 12 at 11am PDT in a rematch of
their opening night tilt. That match was the first and remains the only win to date this season for the
Quakes. The Timbers will be back at home to host their Cascadia rival Seattle Sounders on Sunday May 13 at
1pm.

Steven Wright of Sacramento opened the tally with a goal in the 44th minute to give the visiting Sacramento Gold a 1-0 lead. However, that was short lived as the Stompers came from behind thanks to a brace from Zanin Mahic. His penalty kick goal in the 69th minute drew the game even at 1-1 but his winning strike in the 88th minute sealed the comeback, giving the home team a 2-1 victory.

Flickr set – photos include the instagram posts- Photos by Nap Badillo/Nap Ba.

The win was the second straight for the Stompers and placed them in third position (9 points) in the Golden Gate Conference behind newcomer El Farolito (14 points) and perennial contender Aguiluchos (14 points)–who contested against each other earlier that day. The Hayward team is currently on a 3 game unbeaten streak. The loss was the second this season for the Gold, who are in last place with 4 points, all of them draws. They are yet to win a match this season.

Next up for the Stompers is a road trip to Turlock to face newcomer Academica SC on Saturday May 5 at 7pm, while the Gold returns home to host Sonoma County Sol on the same day, same start time. The two teams will meet again on June 23, this time in Sacramento in which either or both teams could be battling for a playoff berth, or for pride.

(Note: check out his archived articles – from SF City to the defunct SF Deltas a very good and informative read – a small plug for the photographer here but we digress since he does a much better job with the game reports and we are here as a soccer photo blog/travel guide to speak.)

To summarize the match, Aguiluchos opened up the scoring with a Simon Rawnsley penalty kick goal early in the 5th minute. However, El Farolito tied the game thanks to a 16th minute goal from Edson Cardona. Jesus Maldonado of Aguiluchos gave the visitors the lead in the 56th minute but Cardona drew the game even in the 76th minute giving him the brace for the match. A missed attempt by the visitors late in the game would have sealed the points but both teams were fit to be even in the match and in the current standings.The result leaves Farolito and Aguiluchos in a tie for first place with 14 points. Both teams were coming off wins and each are undefeated with identical records of 4 wins, 0 losses, and 2 draws.

Flickr set – photos include the instagram posts- Photos by Nap Badillo/Nap Ba.

Both teams return to play on Saturday May 5. Next up for Aguiluchos is a 7pm home match against Napa Valley 1839 FC at Raimondi Park in Oakland, while El Farolito will continue their homestand against fellow newcomer FC Davis in another noontime start at Boxer Stadium. The two teams will meet again in the return leg Saturday June 23 7pm at Raimondi Park in the next to last weekend in the season schedule.

Coming soon, three games in two days. Friday was already posted with the San Francisco Glens hitting the road against Stanford. Today it was an NPSL doubleheader with El Farolito hosting CD Aguiluchos USA, followed by the East Bay FC Stompers playing the Sacramento Gold at Hayward. If you count watching the Quakes play on the road at Columbus that is 4 games in 2 days, or another triple.

Reports to come later on before the next game which is the Quakes hosting the Portland Timbers at Avaya Stadium. In the meantime, check out the 3pointsport instagram pages for game photos.